What would have happened had a defender jumped a bit higher or quicker? Could not making a mistake earlier in the game have negated North Shore’s chance to win on that 45-yard strike to the corner of the AT&T Stadium end zone?

Samples has worked to quell that guilt in the month since one of the most improbable finishes in Texas high school football history.

That’s helped his team begin to look forward to a promising 2019 campaign -- one that Samples assures will feature him on the sideline despite speculation a hip injury that plagued him throughout 2018 would prompt him to retire.

“All the work you put in for a whole year, to see it go down the drain in such a manner, that’s the hardest part. Other than that, it’s something you can’t control,” Samples said. “You can look back and second-guess and say ‘I should’ve, I should’ve, I should’ve.’ But every time you do that, you have to understand that whatever you say that you should’ve or could’ve done, the outcome could’ve been the same.”

The Panthers’ 14 wins in 15 games and wealth of Division I-bound talent throughout the roster signaled one of Samples’ finest runs in his storied career. The team beat national-No. 1 Allen in the state semifinals and touted one of the best defenses in state history.

But because Samples dealt with the pain of a herniated disc in his back pressing into his sciatic nerve in his hip, he required surgery in early October, helping to alleviate excruciating pain down his left leg that left him coaching the beginning of the season from a stool on the sideline.

He then spent several games coaching from the press box and had to endure a grueling rehabilitation process throughout the remainder of the season.

Now, Samples said he’s ditched physical therapy because it became too easy, and he does weight workouts and exercises with a trainer instead. His mobility has improved, and so have his expectations for next season.

"Oh yes, I'm coming back," Samples said. "If anything really made me have [thoughts about retirement], it was just my health. It was really trying to try and go through what I was going through and actually being hurt physically. But now that I’m feeling better, it even excites me more now to be able to think that I’ll have an opportunity to coach and not be hurting and not be all disjointed.”

As Duncanville's started offseason workouts, the team has garnered frequent attention from some of the country’s most prominent college programs as the recruiting cycle for Class of 2020 players ramps up.

It reflects Duncanville’s strong rising-senior corps -- which includes starters in quarterback Ja’Quinden Jackson, running back Trysten Smith and defensive back Chris Thompson Jr. -- and the Panthers’ pipeline of young talent.

“You can’t define what we did by three seconds,” Samples said. “To me, we had a great year. The whole journey to get to where we was was great, and it’s being reinforced just by what’s happened now after the season is over. Some of the top coaches and programs in the country are acknowledging that we are one of the top high schools in the country.